Thread: Explanation of what a template is please.

  1. #1
    Registered User
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    Explanation of what a template is please.

    And please could it be in english . I gotta hear it in plain english before I can understand it in geekspeak .

    -CDuddley

  2. #2
    of Zen Hall zen's Avatar
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    A class or function capable of recieving/containing different types without needing to overload for each case.

    They act as templates.
    zen

  3. #3
    geek SilentStrike's Avatar
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    A template enables you to write code that generalizes data types. For example, if you want a swap function for chars, it would be like this

    void swap(char& a, char& b) {
    char temp = a;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
    }

    But then, if you wanted to use a swap function for doubles, you would have to write another swap function

    void swap(double& a, double& b) {
    double temp = a;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
    }

    Then, you'd need another for int, and float, and any class/struct you've created on your own, so you could generalize this into a template.

    template <class T> //every instance of T will be replaces by the data type
    void swap(T& a, T& b) {
    T temp = a;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
    }
    Prove you can code in C++ or C# at TopCoder, referrer rrenaud
    Read my livejournal

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